.int Information & .int Links at HealthHaven.com

int
Introduced	1988
TLD type	Sponsored top-level domain
Status	Active
Registry	IANA
Sponsor	IANA
Intended use	International treaty-based organizations
Actual use	Intergovernmental organizations + Organizations with United Nations observer status
Registration restrictions	Applications screened for eligibility
Structure	Registrations at second level permitted
Documents	RFC 1591
Dispute policies	None
Website	IANA .int page

int (derived from international) is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) used in the Domain Name System of the Internet.

According to current Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) policy, the int sTLD is reserved for international treaty-based organizations, United Nations agencies and organizations or entities having Observer status at the UN. This generic top-level domain was initially created for use by NATO, to replace the nato TLD.

int is considered the strictest sTLD as it implies that the holder is a subject of international law. For this reason, the application procedure requires the applicant to provide evidence that it is indeed treaty-based by providing a United Nations treaty registration number and that it has independent legal existence.

Hence, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPS) saw its initial application for a int domain name rejected on the grounds that the convention did not explicitly create an entity subject of international law. However, POPS appealed to the IANA Reconsideration Committee and obtained its domain (pops.int) on the grounds that other conventions lacking such specific language had nevertheless obtained a registration.^[1]

Additionally, int was historically also used for Internet infrastructure databases. The name space arpa had been slated to be moved into int, but in 2000 the Internet Architecture Board recommended that no new infrastructure databases should be added to int and that arpa retain its function.^[2] The only remaining technical role of int was for reverse translation of IPv6 addresses under the ip6.int zone. This zone was officially removed on 6 June 2006 in favor of ip6.arpa, also administered by IANA.

[edit] Delegations

Main article: List of organizations with .INT domain names

A dedicated article offers comprehensive list of these organizations and indicates which ones are actually intergovernmental treaty-based organizations, UN agencies or UN observers, and which ones obtained their int delegation prior to the establishment of these very strict guidelines.

The eu.int subdomain was used by the European Union-affiliated institutions. However, the aforementioned institutions' domain names switched to the eu TLD on May 9, 2006 (Europe Day). All previous eu.int addresses continued to be accessible for a transitional period of at least one year.^[3]

[edit] Grandfathered delegations

Several int domains were granted prior to the application of the strict guidelines described above. The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) is perhaps the most striking example of the loose guidelines applied in the early 1990s. In spite of the potentially confusing impression given by a int domain, IANA has decided not to withdraw the existing assignment from YMCA and other organizations who do not meet the current criteria. A notable example is The Phone Company's Remote Printing Service (remote email to fax service at tpc.int)

[edit] See also

generic top-level domain

[edit] References

[0] ttp://www.icann.org/committees/reconsideration/ogden-request-22jan02.htm

[1] ttp://www.iab.org/documents/docs/iab-arpa-stmt.txt

[2] ttp://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/586&format=HTML&aged=1&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

[1]

[2]

[3]

Contents

[edit] Delegations

[edit] Grandfathered delegations

[edit] See also

[edit] References